Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Abegweit]

No spies in Vanilla.

 

[bestbrian]

I don't know whether it was possible in Vanilla, but once you grow aware of an opponent building space ship parts, you can send spies into his cities to keep a lookout. When you spot a city working on a part, you can spend some money on an espionage mission to impede production of that part.

Come on, Henre. You played Vanilla for how long? You know there's no espionage.

 

[Lord Parkin]

There are Spies in vanilla, but they come later in the game (with Scotland Yard, I think), and I don't know if they can sabotage spaceship parts.

 

[Sisiutil]

There are Spies in vanilla, but they come later in the game (with Scotland Yard, I think), and I don't know if they can sabotage spaceship parts.

That's right, you have to build SY, and you can only have 4 spies max. They can sabotage city builds, IIRC, but it costs a lot of gold with something like a SS part.

In vanilla I used to use them to sabotage aluminum mines.

 

[dirtyparrot]

I just noticed that if an AI and yourself are attacking someone else, you get the option of why don't you attack city X in the let's discuss something else part of the dialogue box. Does this serve any purpose or will the AI attack whatever city it was going to attack?

 

[kcd_swede]

I just noticed that if an AI and yourself are attacking someone else, you get the option of why don't you attack city X in the let's discuss something else part of the dialogue box. Does this serve any purpose or will the AI attack whatever city it was going to attack?

They won't break off another attack to satisfy your request. Also, if they see something they judge better while on the way to answer your request, they will do that instead. So in practise, the answer is that it usually serves no purpose. But if you are lucky it will produce the desired results. So I do it anyways, just for the excercise in frustration.

 

[mrbiggens]

ok newb question...

how the do i get my workers not on strike? i start a new game, used advanced start, and i go into my turn. next thing i know my research and production have been stalled for 20 turns. any help as to why?

i also searched forums and couldnt find a post for it...

 

[Sisiutil]

A strike occurs if (a) you have 0 gold in your treasury and (b) your expenses are greater than your income. Effectively, you have no money to pay your workers, and they go on strike. Military units may also start to disband automatically.

If this happens right at the beginning of an advanced start game, try to leave a little money in your treasury instead of spending it all, or better yet, don't buy so many units that you break the bank right out of the starting gate.

 

[mrbiggens]

ok well checklist.

1. i reloaded 3 different times, and i had over 80 gold each time. and when i start at 100% spending im only at -6 or -4.
2. i get 3 cities with a warrior and scout on each. (max)
3. i get 2-3 workers per city to start clearing out forests asap.

also, does the fact that im playing FfH mean anything different? like different requirements for workers going on strike?

 

[Lord Parkin]

ok well checklist.

1. i reloaded 3 different times, and i had over 80 gold each time. and when i start at 100% spending im only at -6 or -4.
2. i get 3 cities with a warrior and scout on each. (max)
3. i get 2-3 workers per city to start clearing out forests asap.

also, does the fact that im playing FfH mean anything different? like different requirements for workers going on strike?

It shouldn't make any difference. I've played that mod quite a bit and I've never seen Workers go on strike before; thus I assume the requirements for striking are the same. That is, if you have a negative income at 0% research/culture/espionage (i.e. 100% tax), AND you don't have enough gold in the treasury to cover the deficit for that particular turn, then your units will go on strike.

The solution is to not build so many cities at the start of the game, OR to connect them with roads / add population points / improve the tiles with cottages etc. Basically your economy has to be able to support the number and size of cities you have at any particular point in time, but especially at the start of the game.

 

[timbarooni]

Hey,

I recently bought Beyond the Sword, I'm having a blast, but having some problems with corporations.

Can anyone tell me why I can't build the mining Inc in any of my cities with my Great Engineer? I can see it greyed out in the options, but I've moved the dude into every city with access to any of the resources the corp is supposed to require and no love...

Am I supposed to have two of the metals, or what?

 

[IAM]

Hey,

I recently bought Beyond the Sword, I'm having a blast, but having some problems with corporations.

Can anyone tell me why I can't build the mining Inc in any of my cities with my Great Engineer? I can see it greyed out in the options, but I've moved the dude into every city with access to any of the resources the corp is supposed to require and no love...

Am I supposed to have two of the metals, or what?

Are you running State Property civ?

 

[IAM]

ok well checklist.

1. i reloaded 3 different times, and i had over 80 gold each time. and when i start at 100% spending im only at -6 or -4.
2. i get 3 cities with a warrior and scout on each. (max)
3. i get 2-3 workers per city to start clearing out forests asap.

also, does the fact that im playing FfH mean anything different? like different requirements for workers going on strike?

I use advanced start in games and agree with what has been said. Have you tried going light on the units and instead buy a tech or two? I usually don't buy any military units but do get workers and scouts and based on the map I buy a worker tech that fits my resources/terrain. I use the scouts to boost my economy with tribal villages.

 

[henrebotha]

Hey,

I recently bought Beyond the Sword, I'm having a blast, but having some problems with corporations.

Can anyone tell me why I can't build the mining Inc in any of my cities with my Great Engineer? I can see it greyed out in the options, but I've moved the dude into every city with access to any of the resources the corp is supposed to require and no love...

Am I supposed to have two of the metals, or what?

Like IAM said, you might be using State Property (which nullifies corps); it could also be (I think) that the cities already have a competing corp in them.

 

[dalamb]

In addition to avoiding competing corporations and the State Property civic:

1. Do you have the prerequisite techs (Corporation and Railroad)?
2. Does the city have access to coal, iron, copper, gold, or silver?

 

[Pluton]

In addition to avoiding competing corporations and the State Property civic:

1. Do you have the prerequisite techs (Corporation and Railroad)?
2. Does the city have access to coal, iron, copper, gold, or silver?

..and founding/spreadings costs money, which you need to have..

 

[kcd_swede]

..and founding/spreadings costs money, which you need to have..

Founding is free (costs 1 great person, no cash needed), but spread costs cash plus 1 corp exec. Since you see the greyed-out option to found it, I know it hasn't been founded somewhere else.


Just to summarize the list of why you can't found a corp in any city:
1) You are using State Property civic
2) You do not have the enabling technologies (Corporation + RR or whatever for other corps).
3) You do not have any of the required resources connected. (your capitol is not under enemy or pirate naval blockade, is it?).

Possible special case for some cities: you cannot found a corp in any city that already has a corp HQ of a competing corporation (competing corps are those which have at least one resource in common). A corp HQ is permanent, but any non-HQ competing corp is bumped out by the founding corp HQ.

 

[r_rolo1]

There is always the possibility that the poster in question have not updated his BtS and is still playing 3.01 or 3.03, where there was a bug that prevented founding a corp while using mercantilism

 

[qyll]

Question:

What is usually your first build for the first few cities you've founded after your capital?

I usually build monument or warrior first, but I've started to try worker first and it's worked out well.

 

[Lord Parkin]

Question:

What is usually your first build for the first few cities you've founded after your capital?

I usually build monument or warrior first, but I've started to try worker first and it's worked out well.

Depends on the location. If it has good resources that require a border expansion to access and I'm not Creative and don't have Stonehenge, I'll go for a Monument. If it's coastal with some seafood, I'll go Work Boat. If it's got good land resources immediately adjacent, I'll go Worker. If there's a Worker/Work Boat already headed over to the city and a border expansion isn't urgent (or there's a barb threat), I might go for a military unit if there isn't one there already.